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Saturday, April 19, 2008
WPT World Championship brings out stars
By Sarah Polson
The World Poker Tour has taken its game all over the world for Season 6, but the most anticipated event is the World Championship that takes place at the Bellagio.
With a $25,000 buy-in, the World Championship attracts players from all over the world and brings the winners from the other events on the tour to compete for what is potentially a multimillion-dollar first-place prize.
Despite the other major tournaments taking place elsewhere, many pros have already made their presence known in Las Vegas during the World Championship's preliminary events.
The Bellagio has been offering up lucrative tournaments since April 2 during its Five Star World Poker Classic tournament series building up to the World Championship. One player who seems to have taken full advantage is Billy Baxter, who conquered Event 6 and Event 12.
Billy Baxter flies high in Five Star series.
Baxter also cashed in Event 1 of the Five Star series in ninth place. He's not the only pro warming up with some wins before the World Championship, either.
Scott Clements took down Event 4 and cashed in Event 2. Michael Mizrachi picked up a win in Event 7, plus a cash in Event 1. The Grinder also won one of the super-satellites despite already having secured a seat in the World Championship with his win in Event 7.
Toto Leonidas won Event 8 for a $189,400 cash to add to his 15th-place cash in Event 7. Darrell Dicken picked up a win and $223,330 in cash in Event 10, and Michael Binger took down Event 13 for $317,280.
Allen Kessler didn't win any of the official events, but he did pick up his seat in the World Championship by winning one of the super-satellites.
Other notables who've been making waves in the poker ranks at the Bellagio during the series are Shannon Shorr, who has three final tables in the series, and Scotty Nguyen with his two cashes.
Still other pros who've picked up some money in the Five Star World Poker Classic are David Levi, Alan Smurfit, Jean-Robert Bellande, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Mark Seif, Justin Bonomo, Todd Brunson, Robert Mizrachi, David Pham, Jonathan Little, Erica Schoenberg, Tom McEvoy, Hevad Kahn, Erick Lindgren and more.
More than likely these will be some of the names popping up during the World Championship as well when it kicks off with today at noon PDT. For the eight days of poker action on tap, poker fans can head to the Live Tournament section as our reporting team provides the best live updates, reports, interviews, photos and more from the WPT World Championship.